Better than Ramen
by practical cynicism
Summary: Naruto manages to get Sasuke to pay for his ramen for the nth time. Sasuke wants payback. SasuNaru.


**Better than Ramen**

**By Dimantrien**

Naruto always smelled like ramen.

He supposed that was already a given, seeing how the blonde never seemed to eat anything else. Personally, he thought it was a little unhealthy, but who was he to fuss about Naruto's eating habits? Besides, he didn't care about Naruto. Of course not. He hadn't gone out on a limb to save the other boy's life several times during missions because he _cared_ about him; it would be troublesome to be one man short in such dangerous circumstances, that was all. He certainly didn't worry himself sick when Naruto somehow managed to carelessly get injured enough to land himself in the hospital; no, the sleepless nights he spent back then was just post-mission restlessness. And he would never, ever be attracted to Naruto, in _any_ way. Just because he often caught himself staring at Naruto, didn't mean that he was admiring the other boy's lithe profile, or his smooth sun-kissed skin, or his silky blonde locks that were just begging to be touched, or those cerulean blue eyes that danced with emotion and made you just want to drown in them—

Oh, damn it all to hell. Who did he think he was kidding? He was practically obsessed.

He could have convinced himself otherwise, of course. But there was that little matter of letting his train of thought wander to how Naruto always smelled like ramen, which simply proved that he thought about Naruto more than what could be considered normal.

The stupid dobe didn't know anything about that, of course. And it was starting to get really annoying.

"Sasukeeeeeeeeeeeee!"

There he was now. That shrill voice that could outrival his most annoying fangirl's, if that was even possible. But it was cute how Naruto drew out his name like that and had a habit of rolling around the last syllable on his tongue as if—

Argh. He was _hopeless_.

"What do you want? Dobe," he added the insult as an afterthought. Watching Naruto get all riled up was so amusing.

Predictably, the Kyuubi vessel's lips curled up into a pout before opening to spew forth a retort – one he probably didn't even think about, no less. "Don't call me that, Sasuke teme! I was going to ask you if you wanted to go to Ichiraku and eat ramen with me, but now that you're acting like the arrogant bastard that you are, I'm starting to wonder why I invited you—"

"Do you even have money to pay for the ramen, usuratonkachi?" Sasuke interrupted mockingly.

"Well…no, that's why I asked you in the first place! I mean," Naruto said hastily when Sasuke raised an eyebrow at him, "I was gonna borrow money from you and pay you back later…"

Sasuke smirked. "Dobe, if you plan on freeloading off other people, I suggest you don't yell at them; you'd just be ruining your chances even more." He walked past Naruto, whose cheeks were slightly flushed with a mixture of embarrassment and ire. The blonde couldn't seem to rack up a decent comeback and stood rooted to the spot, silently fuming.

Sasuke glanced back at him. "Are you coming or not? Hurry up before I change my mind."

Naruto's eyes lit up gleefully, all anger in them vanishing in the blink of an eye. He quickly caught up with Sasuke and rushed past him, yelling over his shoulder, "Thanks Sasuke! Ramen, here I come!" The Uchiha merely shook his head and smiled slightly, walking at a more leisurely pace.

Naruto was already placing his usual order by the time Sasuke reached the ramen stand. "… add some extra beef in it, would you, ojii-san? Oi, Sasuke, hurry up and order already!"

"What's the rush? It's just ramen." Sasuke replied, rolling his eyes.

Naruto stared at him in genuine horror, as if he had just cursed all the deceased Hokages' graves. "Just ramen? _Just_ ramen! You…" And he launched into a speech about the glorious wonders that ramen alone provided, stopping only when the steaming bowl of noodles was placed before him.

He finished his ramen in two minutes flat. He then proceeded to looking mournfully at Sasuke's unfinished bowl, making puppy-dog eyes at the raven-haired boy, until Sasuke couldn't resist the cuteness anymore and sighed in defeat, signaling the old man behind the counter to give Naruto another bowl.

Naruto whooped and wolfed down the second bowl of ramen. And another. And another. And…well, you get the picture.

Fifteen minutes later found Naruto and Sasuke walking home together. "That was soooo good…" the blonde said happily, making little sighs of contentment that made Sasuke itch to jump him.

"Hn." Sasuke prided himself for his self-restraint. Itachi certainly didn't have any, the way he killed off their whole clan without batting an eyelash.

"Aw, don't get so uptight. I'll pay you back," Naruto said in an exasperated tone that didn't bode well with the wide grin still on his face.

Sasuke snorted derisively. "I'll keep my fingers crossed, then," he answered, all sarcasm.

Naruto puffed up his cheeks adorably and pointed a finger at his rival. "I _can_ pay you back! Don't you dare look down on me, yarou!"

"Do you even have two coins to rub together, usuratonkachi?"

Naruto reddened. "Well, not _now,_ give me a few weeks!"

"What if I wanted you to pay me now?" Sasuke interjected, smirking.

Naruto glared at him. "I told you, I don't have—"

Sasuke pinned him against a tree, moving a little too close for comfort. "I didn't say it had to be money," he said in a low, sultry tone.

"W-what do you mean?" Naruto stammered, blushing harder. "O-oi, this isn't funny—"

And Sasuke's mouth was on his, pressing gently and lingeringly as if waiting for a response. Naruto tasted like ramen, and something else Sasuke couldn't quite put a finger on. He ran his tongue over the other boy's lips, trying to figure out what it was. Naruto whimpered softly.

…stupid dobe. Didn't even know how to kiss back.

Sasuke pulled away, looking half-annoyed, half-amused at Naruto, who was wide-eyed and alternately opening and closing his mouth like a fish.

"I…you…" Naruto stuttered, his face a shade of red previously unknown to man.

"That's one down, eight more to go," Sasuke drawled, licking his lips. Damn, that was good, even if Naruto wasn't cooperating. It took every ounce of willpower for him not to do…other things.

"W-what?" Naruto blinked, touching his own lips confusedly. "Wait…you…you kissed me!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes.

Naruto glared at him. "What, you want one kiss for every bowl I…oh." His face, if possible, became even redder.

"Let's go home, dobe." Sasuke let go of Naruto and started walking down the path again, Naruto quickly falling into step behind him.

"Wait…you decided that all on your own! I don't wanna kiss you eight more times!" Naruto stumbled over the words; they sounded so foreign.

"Really," Sasuke said disinterestedly, not breaking his stride.

"I…don't…" Naruto said feebly, his voice faltering.

Sasuke turned around and stared Naruto straight in the eye, completely sure that the other boy was lying. And he smiled.

After all, it was clearly all over Naruto's face that for the first time in his life, he had tasted something better than ramen.

Owari 

**A/N- **wrote this for an lj comm. 30 themes challenge. #13 was noodles, and the first thing that popped into my head was Naruto eating ramen so…


End file.
